Douluo Dalu: 1st Cycle: Dancing Panda

Karni backed up immediately. The exchange of blows was almost identical to before. He barely dodged while the opponent attempted to spiritually attack him. Meanwhile, Karni applied his Vision Bestowal skill.

The youth quickly caught up. His foot technique now felt as agile as Siduo on her regular days.

He bashed into Karni, while activating his first soul ring. A shockwave twice as powerful as before knocked into Karni. It wasn't that Karni didn't want to dodge it, it's that the shield was big enough that he couldn't. He tried to block the shield by hitting it horizontally with the front of staff.

The knockback was so strong that at least, if nothing else, he managed to make some distance. But luckily it wasn't only that. To his amazement, he gained additional 10 Stacks and surprisingly enough his staff absorbed all of the knockback. The low hum started.

The Stacks now numbered 24. It was the highest they've ever been, but because it wasn't himself who increased it, he didn't feel much burden at all.

"Was it the way I blocked it?" So far, he only blocked from the side of the staff, not from the front. Looked like the way the stacks built up was also important, he learned many things about it through these few short bouts.

He wanted to try and test it, but he couldn't at the moment. There was another charge of the opponent.

Karni looked at the tree beside him and bounced off it, he was above the enemy at this moment. Even if it was a clearing, it was still a forest, he's been getting used to this terrain thanks to the Spirit Ascension Platform.

The teen activated his second soul ring. Karni tried to bash the shield the same way he completely absorbed that shockwave - with a piercing motion, instead of a swing.

He soon noticed his mistake. The multitudes of palm sized shields gathered together at a side angle. His piercing attack simply slid off. Thankfully, he managed to preserve his Stacks at the last minute and not attack with them.

The first soul ring of the opponent lit up at that moment. Karni was knocked from the side, with no way to defend himself. While in midair, his brain was hit by a purple light from the black haired youth.

He barely managed to stand up before he saw a cold palm fly in his chest. He put his left arm in front of it. He was sent flying yet again. The single move of changing the angle of the shields completely threw Karni off his rhythm.

Karni couldn't feel a thing in his arm. The only sense he could feel was pain. Ice cold pain. He wasn't sure whether his arm was broken or not, however, while being knocked away by the attack, he didn't forget to reactivate his first soul ring.

The guy was upon him again. It was another shockwave. Karn didn't have the time to dodge this attack, just like before. While in midair, he swung his staff with his single working arm and activated his second soul ring.

The opponent was relentless. It was another shield bash. The youth was constantly trying to change his patterns, this way, his eyes were also protected.

Karni struck out with another pierce this time around, and the retaliation was similar to the previous one as well. The shield was put up at an angle. He wasn't about to fall for it twice though. Embracing the direction that his opponent was sending him in, he positioned his staff perfectly flat on the shield from the side.

The shockwave came. Karni barely managed to keep his staff from falling out of his single arm, but he got thrown far away just as he wanted to.

He now had a total of 29 Stacks on his Bo Staff. They refused to go higher. The opponent was already nearby.

Karni grabbed his Bo Staff at the very bottom and swung widely.

The end of the staff was met with a shield. At that point, he let go of the opposite part of the staff, only leaving half of it in his arm. The staff proceeded to the black haired youth past the shield. The drumstick was short enough to do so now.

Another shield, the size of a palm, blocked the drumstick of Karni's attack.

"Shit." Karni was hit with an icy palm into his chest and sent flying, it felt like he was hit by a truck, but the size of a palm. He hit a tree.

He couldn't stand up. And the opponent was already upon him trying to end it as quickly as possible.

"Second trial completed. 30 seconds have passed."

The black haired teen disappeared. Karni released a heavy sigh. He was lucky. Nothing more had to be said.

He stood up with much difficulty; he didn't have a particularly sturdy body. Another hit would've probably failed him.

"Idiot, I could've used my Panda to defend myself at least a bit." Karni wanted to hit himself but didn't have the strength to. He could hardly move his arms.

"Ultimate difficulty. First Trial."

Karni wanted to scream.

"Begin."

A youth that looked to be a few years older than him appeared. Karni couldn't do anything, he simply switched to his Panda Martial Soul and hoped he would endure it.

… … …

A flash appeared in the middle of a metal room. Karni flew out of it. He simply laid on the ground. He couldn't move.

A total of 5 seconds was needed for the battle to end. His second martial soul had no soul rings whatsoever; the boost he received in defence would only work against a Soul Scholar.

About 10 seconds later, Siduo appeared before him. She was also laying on the ground. Her muscles were constantly twitching.

When she saw Karni there, she changed from her pained expression to something that resembled a smile. She could barely control her facial muscles.

"Looks like I w-win. We'll have a j-jolly old time with that R-Raging Buffalo Duke in the future."

"I forgot about that." Karni stood up with difficulty. His body was hurting all over, but at least the feeling in his arms was coming back.

"What was your opponent like?" He asked her.

"It was a guy with a dragon martial soul. His strength was too powerful for me to do much outside of the medium difficulty, and it had a lightning property as well."

"That explains the haircut." Karni laughed, her hair was standing straight up.

She wanted to frown, but the twitching didn't let her. "I only managed to survive in the advanced stage by running away. He caught up to me in the ultimate difficulty. The first thing that bastard did was use his darn lightning web to catch me up close and personal."

Karni laughed as she stood up with her muscles still twitching from the electricity.

"What about you?"

"I fought a shield guy. If he were an opponent like yours I wouldn't make it past the advanced test."

"The tests are chosen based on one's ability, where one can show what they're best at." Mo Qing suddenly appeared.

"For Karni it was a show of prediction as well as his ability to even outsmart a defence soul master. To actually defeat them, despite not having true attack capabilities… That, I didn't expect."

"For Siduo it is her pure show of speed. Her base speed is one which exceeds the foot technique they used. And can even defeat one, who would usually constrain the agility system."

"It also showed both of your weaknesses. I hope I don't need to point those out."

Both Siduo and Karni shook their heads.

"Do you know who the two of you just fought?" Mo Qing asked.

They shook their heads again.

"You two…" The man sighed. "I can tell that both of you know. You guys can be bad at lying sometimes."

Karni and Siduo chuckled nervously. "Xu Sanshi." "Bei Bei."

"I'm guessing you've already guessed what this is then."

"Can we enter the Tang Sect?" Karni was the first to ask.

"Yes."

"Can we learn the techniques as well?" Siduo asked.

Mo Qing smiled. "Of course."

"I've put the registration through. It should be done by the end of the week. Let's leave for now."

… … …

"Ye'er, please help Wu Siduo learn the Mysterious Heaven Method."

Karni and Siduo looked towards Teacher Ye. Ye'er? This was the first they heard him call her that.

"Yes uncle." Ye'er answered.

"Aaaaaaah." Both of them released a weird sound. They finally understood. Despite everything, the two of them had yet to find this connection between their teachers. They only interacted with them during school time or training after all.

"Come with me Karni." Mo Qing ignored their feeling of revelation.

They brought the students into their rooms.

"Turn your back toward me." Mo Qing said seriously.

"Follow the flow, don't fight the energy."

Karni nodded.

Mo Qing started to infuse his soul power into Karni. His face showed surprise. His soul power was welcomed like a friend. There was zero rejection from Karni's soul power, the two fused smoothly.

Was the kid so adept? Or was this his skill? He shook off his surprise, while starting to circulate Karni's soul power.

It was now Karni's turn to be surprised. They were about half-way done with a single circulation after an hour. The amount of pathways in his body truly surprised him. No wonder that Tang Sect cultivation technique was so good.

One circulation was finished. It took a total of 2 hours. "This is called the Mysterious Heaven Method. It is the basis of all Tang Sect techniques. Everything you saw in the Hall of Heroes will be available to you when you master it."

Another circulation began. This time it was more on Karni to do it on his own, while Mo Qing made sure he did it correctly. There were a few mistakes where Karni tried going down his old circulation pathways, but was quickly reminded by Mo Qing of the correct way.

The third circulation had no more mistakes. Karni still needed about an hour and a half to complete it once. Mo Qing stayed in the room for the night, monitoring the changes in Karni.

Karni noticed something peculiar while cultivating through the night. When he was cultivating before, a golden energy appeared in his body which he felt was connected to his Staff of Predictions. It was spiritual in nature and seemed to speed up his cultivation to a degree.

When he was resting, it was a green energy which appeared to belong to the Fluffy Bamboo Panda. This one felt like it made the body stronger. Absorbing the rich nutrients that the academy gave him. His soul power also became thicker with it.

But now he felt both. The Mysterious Heaven Method called forth both of the two energies. They were entangled around the Mysterious Heaven method in his pathways.

"Mysterious definitely suited the name." Karni thought to himself. He won't have to split up his resting and meditation time.

As he continued to investigate, a truly wondrous scene was in front of Mo Qing's eyes. It wasn't just his soul power, even Karni himself felt like a friend to him. So nice and all-accepting. He could tell that the energy in the surroundings was perceiving him the same way.

This lasted until morning. Mo Qing softly called out to Karni.

Karni opened his eyes and looked towards Mo Qing. This cultivation technique was incredible. His eyes were shining.

"Would you come to the window?" Mo Qing invited him in a friendly manner. He couldn't truly order him around at the moment. The feeling Karni was releasing through the night made him feel like a lifelong friend. He could barely consider himself a teacher of his at the moment. His mind was too influenced.

Karni and Mo Qing looked outside. It was the beginning of the sunrise.

"The same as before, please let me guide your energy." Mo Qing asked.

Karni nodded, he didn't notice that Mo Qing appeared different than usual.

Mo Qing placed his hands on the back side of Karni's head.

"Be careful to remember this pathway thoroughly, otherwise you could damage your mind."

Karni concentrated. Mo Qing meant well, but it felt like a threat to Karni.

A small circulation path was completed around Karni's eyes and soft purple golden energies of the horizon were absorbed. He could feel his spiritual power increasing by a tiny bit.

However, dawn didn't last very long. Very soon, the sunrise ended. The last few circulations were done by Karni alone.

"From now on, you should cultivate this technique every sunrise. It is a strong spiritual cultivation method called the Purple Demon Eyes. It should suit you well since your martial soul relies on spiritual power as well."

"How come I just get these for free?"

"All disciples get a maximum of three Tang Sect techniques for free. Most choose the Mysterious Heaven Method for their first since it's the foundation of all the others. As for the Purple Demon Eyes I took the liberty of choosing it for you, since it's best suited for your current development."

"So I get to choose one more?"

"Yes. Since you passed the advanced test."

"Which one is the foot technique?"

Mo Qing laughed. "You don't want to hear the other options?"

"Sure." Karni didn't mind, but he was convinced he wanted the foot technique.

"There are five great Tang Sect techniques, two of them you have already learned. Those being the Purple Demon Eyes and Mysterious Heaven Method. The other three are the Mysterious Jade Hands, which make your hands as strong as jade and can contend with the strength system soul master and enhance them as well. Then there is the Controlling Crane, Capturing Dragon. An incredible grappling technique that can make even a small child bend an adult like a toy. It also teaches one to control inner energies and outer energies when mastered." That was a strange choice of words to Karni.

"The final one is the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. It is the foot technique that focuses on confusing the opponent and one's own agility. You will be able to move like a ghost with it."

"There is something else to consider. The Hidden Weapon Hundred Separation. It focuses on hidden weapons, though today, it has been completely fused with the development of soul tools."

Karni thought he knew what he wanted. He thought. He would make good use of both Mysterious Jade Hands and Controlling Crane, Capturing Dragon, but they weren't necessary right now.

He wished for Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track at the start so that he could fuse it with his Drunken Dancing Movement, however the Hidden Weapon Hundred Separation felt like a necessity now that he heard about it.

He really wished that he could choose four techniques for free.

"How do I get more techniques afterwards?"

"With contribution points."

"How do I get those?"

"By completing missions."

"Teacher could you please be more clear." Karni sighed. Mo Qing had a teasing smile on his face.

"You can complete various missions. When you're strong enough you can go on battle missions, but for now I'd recommend completing designing or mechanic assignments."

Karni sighed, it looked like he was going to have to leave the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track for the future.

Mo Qing chickled. "Don't worry about it too much. I will teach you the Hidden Weapon Hundred Separation either way."

"Eh?" Karni blinked. "Is that even allowed?"

"Of course not." Mo Qing chuckled.

Karni was just confused now. He didn't believe that his teacher would break the rules of the Tang Sect, they were very strict when it came to rules.

"Don't worry I made a deal with the sect to teach you thanks to my influence. However, the two of you will have to pay off the debt of learning the technique yourself. Your time limit will be 2 years. If you can't…"

"If we can't?" Karni urged him to continue.

"Well. You'll find out if that happens." The smile he made was anything but comforting. That feeling of friendliness that Mo Qing had before wore off.

Karni didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Mo Qing was essentially trolling. He put two children in debt without a second thought so that they could learn more Tang Sect techniques at the start.

"In that case, I'll choose the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track." Karni sighed, it wasn't worth arguing about it.

"Good, I thought you would. Here is the book on how to learn it, go over it with Siduo. She probably chose the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track like you."

Karni nodded. He went out along with Mo Qing. They met Siduo and Teacher Ye in the hall.

"Good, you're out as well. Then let me tell the two of you the most important rules." Mo Qing decided.

Karni and Siduo listened faithfully.

"Be careful not to break any of them, otherwise you will be kicked out of the sect and will have to return everything you got from the sect."

Karni was going to ask how he would return his knowledge of the Mysterious Heaven Technique but kept his mouth shut, the answer would probably be violent.

"Rule 1: Be a good person who cherishes the Tang Sect." Both Siduo and Karni made weird faces when they heard that.

"2: Be filial to your sect and to your teachers." It simply meant not to join any other organisations.

"3: Do not commit rape or robbery."

"4: Do not divulge the secrets of the sect." Finally a sort of normal rule, despite being quite obvious.

"5: It is the duty of everyone in Tang Sect to uphold virtue and condemn evil."

"6: Do not deceive others."

"7: You'll find some other time, not important at the moment as it's impossible to break them as you are now."

Siduo jokingly said. "So we just have to be decent people?"

"Not that hard right?" Mo Qing smiled. "Now then, I'll leave you to your own devices."

Mo Qing left with Ye'er. Karni turned toward Siduo. "What did you choose?"

"Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track and Mysterious Jade Hands." Siduo grinned.

Karni thought that she'll be difficult to handle from now on, but kept it to himself.

"I wanted to choose the Hidden Weapon Hundred Separation when I heard about contribution points, but Teacher Ye just said I shouldn't without explanation." Siduo commented.

"Ugh. Actually what happened was…"

Karni described that Mo Qing put them in debt.

"He fucking what?!" Siduo was enraged and wanted to kick something.

"I'd rather just grind it up than be in debt, Teacher Mo did that on purpose." She really wanted to go fight that teacher of hers.